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Continuous Versus Intermittent Observations in Behavior Studies with Grazing Cattle

University of California, Davis

Abstract

Data are presented for grazing steers showing that, depending on criteria of interest, up to a 30-minute interval of observation was adequate for reporting animal behavior patterns. It was shown for the major behavior patterns—grazing, ruminating, and idling—that it can be assumed that the observed animal remains in a particular behavior pattern until the next observation, providing the observation interval was not over 30 minutes. Highly significant differences in individual animal behavior patterns over a 24-hour period were noted and therefore several animals need to be observed every 15 to 30 minutes. In this study four animals per treatment were adequate to obtain reliable estimates of animal behavior.

¹ Department of Animal Husbandry.